Small portions
by Cherryoncake
Summary: Short stories and moments, taken in minute spoonfuls. Drabble #4: For a brief second, emerald met onyx. It was never meant to be, wasn't it? Sasusaku drabbles collection.
1. Be still my heart

**Title:** Be still my heart

**Summary:** And she confronted the blood-eyed monster head-on.

**Inspiration:** "Unfamiliar" - The Birthday Massacre

**Notes:** I'm going to group all my drabbles together so that I won't have 123xzzn stories of around 500 words appearing in my profile, and it'll be easier to read. I'm not sure how many of these I'll actually write. All I know is that they're for Sasusaku - obviously - and I'll be covering various genres, from humour to tragedy to some random inspiration that comes to me.

**Disclaimer:** Pft. I own Naruto and I _so_ write fanfics for my own creation.

* * *

He came for revenge.

The village's defences were completely obliterated. Buildings, regardless of whether it was a civilian's home, or the Hokage's tower, were reduced to mere debris. The streets smelled of rot and ruin, littered with torn corpses and pools of red. Everything was destroyed.

_Black fire everywhere._

_Desperate cries for help._

_Blood._

It made her sick.

Sakura tried not to look at the dried, scarlet splotches decorating the walls, or the amputated arm sticking out between the pieces of cement. She swallowed the bile that rose to her throat and the nausea that came with it. Pumping chakra to her feet, Sakura searched the village for survivors. _Where is everybody?_

From the peripherals of her vision, she could see the dark-haired man walking among the dead and the broken, admiring his handiwork. A shudder made its way down her spine. _Sasuke-kun__—_

The monster. The culprit behind the massacre of Konoha.

The man she loved.

Sakura gulped.

"_Sasuke-kun! Wanna go on a date?"_

_"Sakura, say it! Who the hell hurt you?"  
_

"_I may have friends and family, but to me…if you were to leave, I'd be just as lonely as you!"_

_"Thank you."_

His crimson Mangekyou bled and tears of blood left trails on his cheeks. His clothes were drenched with the blood of the innocent, people who were unfortunate enough to stand in his way. Everything about him was stained with blood.

And the scary thing was that he still looked ethereally beautiful.

He chuckled maniacally as he made his way through the dead village, stepping over corpses and crimson rivers. He howled his brother's name with the elation of getting revenge on his own village. He had given Konoha the damnation it deserved. He had cleansed the name of the Uchiha clan. He had served justice. May his family be proud of him!

The monster turned, and predator set eyes on the prey.

Her palms were slick with cold sweat and her legs were shaking. She knew what she had to do. _Calm down__—_

"_I…I love with you with all my heart!"_

_Smirk. "You really are annoying."_

"_Sakura…I can't forgive even you if you take that away from me…"_

The monster reached for his sword.

She gathered strength in her fist, and charged at him.


	2. Tears

**Title:** Tears

**Summary:** He would rather die than let Sakura see him like this.

**Inspiration:** I have no idea. Is that a good thing? xD

**Notes:** Second drabble. You know, now that I've written more often, it's getting easier for me.

**Disclaimer:** Uh...yeah.

* * *

Uchiha Sasuke wasn't prone to crying at all. If there was a way to cut his tear glands so that crying was impossible for him, he would've happily done so — except, according to Sakura, the cutting of said glands (Sakura: _Lacrimal glands, Sasuke-kun. Lacrimal._) which caused the inability to produce tears would definitely harm his eyes and his prized Sharingan, a bad enough reason for him to forego such an action.

He spent the vast majority of his life tearless. Even when Naruto's and Sakura's too-colourful eyes were practically leaking and making a freaking _lake_ on the floor, his onyx ones had remained dry. Hard and dry.

People had asked if he was truly emotionless. Sasuke knew he wasn't, unfortunately. He recalled a few times when tears did fall from his eyes, and all of them had something to do with his clan and Itachi, and that was it. He simply had great control over his emotions, especially on the release of tears. It was something he prided himself on.

So why the _hell_ was he standing in his own kitchen, crying?

Sasuke tried to will the tears to retreat, from his cheeks and from his eyes. _Go back_, he told them with all of his Uchiha authority, at the same time trying to suppress the urge to sniff. His glands happily defied him. Tears rolled down his cheeks uncontrollably, as though acquiring their long-awaited freedom had made them all too anxious to flow out of his eyes, the way water would from cracks in a dam. It was pathetic.

Sasuke wiped the tears away with his sleeve, only to have his vision blurred when fresh ones formed. Sasuke grunted with exasperation and rubbed his eyes some more. He stiffened when he heard footsteps.

Getting nearer and nearer to the kitchen.

Damn.

Sasuke quickly turned his back to the kitchen door, so that whoever walked in wouldn't be able to see him _cry_. He shivered. God knew what would happen if it was Naruto who found him like this. He would definitely use it as blackmail material, forcing the Uchiha to do whatever stupid stuff he had in mind.

But what if it was Sakura? She would probably think he was upset — which he _wasn't_ — and attempt to comfort him. Maybe she would even give him a hug.

Strangely, Sasuke didn't shiver at that. Maybe, just maybe, it would be nice to—

"Sasuke-kun?"

Oh, forget it. He would rather die than let Sakura see him like this.

And so Sasuke defiantly turned his back to the door, refusing to show his face to the intruder.

"Sasuke-kun," She stopped at the entrance and poked her head in.

"Are the onions done yet?"

* * *

**A/N**: Is anyone expecting that at all?


	3. The notion of unconventionality

**Title: **The notion of unconventionality

**Summary:** There is absolutely nothing conventional about their relationship. Who could imagine Sasuke doing all those normal boyfriend antics anyway?

**Inspiration:** Kinder's chocolate. Seriously.

**Notes:** I know it's not Valentine's Day, but I just feel like writing something about it. So here goes!

**A/N:** I'm in college now, but I'll try my best to write more. I'm not exactly the type of writer that updates for the sake of keeping readers though. I prefer updating at my own pace.

* * *

If there's one thing Sakura learned from being Uchiha Sasuke's girlfriend, it's that being his girlfriend is anything but easy.

There is nothing conventional about their relationship. No normal routine dinner-then-movie-or-vice-versa dates, no shopping together, no taking sticker photos in the mall, no holding hands or bickering in public. They prefer places with less people and more atmosphere. Take a faraway park near a temple for instance, university campuses on weekends so they could study, or a museum on something they both enjoy. It's so much unlike other couples when it comes to physical contact – there is this occasional hug and handholding, and a couple of kisses here and there, no more. No late-night phone conversations, or constant phone messages about sweet nothings. Everything is subtle – fitting for their relationship she supposes, who could imagine Sasuke doing all those normal boyfriend antics anyway?

It's not that Sakura dislikes their relationship or anything, she loves and thoroughly enjoys every minute of it. But when it comes to certain situations, being unconventional makes her get into predicaments where obtaining advice from any of her peers doesn't even start to solve the problem, because their relationship just isn't the norm.

And just as a timely example, Sakura feels she is now definitely, certainly facing said predicament: just what can she get her boyfriend on _freaking_ Valentine's Day when he doesn't even like chocolate?

Of course, it's not like Sakura hasn't consulted her peers on this – a result of her wishful thinking, that girl talk always solves problems, somehow, with a magic wand…eventually.

"_Not to attack your relationship or anything Sakura, but not having chocolates on Valentine's Day is _so_ unromantic," Ino had said. "Shouldn't you try to get Sasuke to occasionally do at least one of the normal stuff that couples do, say a movie or one? That's like part of the whole dating experience! I mean, if you guys don't appear like a couple, won't you worry about people doubting your relationship?"_

Come to think of it, it did take the class two whole months to believe that they're actually dating. That's because they didn't Facebook "in a relationship". And they didn't really stick together all the time at lunch either. Heck, some students thought it was a prank rumour. Although they probably didn't intend for it to be offensive, it irks Sakura. Slightly.

Groaning, Sakura rolls over on her bed and scratches her head of tousled, pink hair. She needs to think of something before tomorrow. Her friends are probably all making chocolate right now.

She pouts. Sasuke owes her.

...

Sasuke flexes his shoulder and adjusts the school bag slung over it. He goes past the school entrance and makes his way to change his shoes into slippers at the shelves. Already he can see girls giving friendship or "special" chocolates everywhere. He rolls his eyes. What's with the whole chocolate consumerism culture idea with Valentine's Day? A lot of the gifts are probably homemade, but isn't that just melting bought chocolate, remolding them and then accessorizing with nuts, marshmallows and sprinkles? He doesn't really understand.

In the process of putting his shoes into the locker and taking out his school slippers, a small pink box falls out, which he catches before it drops to the ground. Raising a brow, he inspects the object. It's obvious where it comes from, with the scribbled "Sakura" and all. Sakura can't possibly have –

_Sasuke,_

_You know, I have absolutely no idea what to put in here. I know you don't like chocolate or anything sweet in particular, but then I got a really great idea. Do you mind buying me a box of chocolate and bringing it over? Enclosed please find a photo for reference. I think it was the one we saw near the station some time ago. Then we can go somewhere else tonight :)  
_

_P.S. Happy Valentine's Day!_

_Sakura._


	4. I'll never be loved by you again

**Title**: I'll never be loved by you again

**Summary**: For a brief second, emerald met onyx. It was never meant to be, wasn't it?

**Inspiration**: Guilty Crown ED – Departure (BEAUTIFUL SONG.)

**A/N:** I apologize for my long hiatus, but I haven't been paying much attention to the Naruto fandom until recently, when things got interesting again (don't hit me). Nevertheless, I'll try to update more often since it's summer after all.

* * *

They were supposed to meet up with Naruto at the border three hours ago.

_Well, that's not happening any time soon,_ Sakura thought darkly, at the same time deflecting a rain of senbon with her kunai, wincing as a few of them – it was impossible to deflect all, there were _so many_ – scratched the skin and drew blood. She cursed as she felt the paralysis start eating away at her body. The senbon had been poisoned after all, just her luck. And she had no more chakra left to heal.

_One, two, three, four…nine left._ Sakura could only curse at their misfortune. It was supposed to be a simple B-rank mission. All they had to do was to escort their client, secretary of the wealthiest daimyo in Kumo, back to Kumogakure. As per usual, the client had understated just how much bounty he had on his head (all for the sake of reducing the price of hiring shinobi – didn't they know this could be _dangerous_?), and an entire army of Mist-nin were apparently lusting for his decapitation. Which was why she and Sasuke were left fighting while Naruto, despite being very reluctant to leave them behind, had to carry the client out of harm's way as quickly as humanly possible. With a two versus nine scenario, it was clear which side was at a disadvantage.

"Sakura!" Sasuke's shout snapped Sakura out of her thoughts just in time to evade a water jutsu aimed for her neck, the result of which would have been fatal. Sasuke swung his katana ferociously at the nearby Mist-nin, who dodged the Uchiha's weary slashes with ease. Sakura tried to catch the Mist-nin surprise by landing a punch on him from behind, but it barely even grazed the Mist-nin as he grunted and leapt high into the canopy of the forest.

"Watch your own back, or both of us will die!" Sasuke snapped. Panting, Sakura jumped to his side. The disappearance of the Sharingan from Sasuke's eyes signified he had used up the last of his chakra, and from his grim expression Sakura could tell Sasuke was as tired as she was.

_At this rate, we'll really die._

Sakura gritted her teeth in frustration. Their enemies were hiding behind leaves and branches, all the while using long-range attacks to wear them out. She and Sasuke were like trapped rats, toyed to the point of utter exhaustion, which was probably what the Mist-nin aimed to do. After all, Sasuke would at least be considered a formidable enemy, but even an Uchiha could only do so much against nine elite Mist ANBU.

The two stood close to each other, weapons raised, each covering the other's blind spot. The tension strung across the battlefield felt like sharp wire. The Mist-nin were waiting for an opening, and the moment they move would be when predator pounced on prey and went for the kill.

Grimly, Sakura realized the twinge of fear for their lives at the back of her mind may just manifest itself in the very, very near future.

"Sasuke-kun, is there any way we can break out?"

Onyx eyes quickly scanned the area. The Mist-nin had surrounded the entire area. One provocation from their side, and the Mist-nin would attack both of them.

"No."

Sakura bit down on her lip so hard she almost broke the skin. _No way we could escape, huh?_

A snarl from Sasuke told Sakura he too was feeling frustrated at their hopeless situation. Sakura's limbs were screaming at her to not fight anymore. If only the team opted for another mission instead of this one. Then they would probably not be thrown into such danger. But what was the use of what-ifs, when all was done and set in stone?

_Shinobi rule number four: A shinobi must always put the mission first. But it's for Naruto's sake too._

In the end, they didn't really have any choice.

"How many explosive tags do you have left?"

Sasuke rummaged through his pouch. "Eight."

"I have twelve. We have no choice but to activate all of them. The blast will hurt the Mist-nin enough for them to be unable to catch up with Naruto. I don't think they'll expect us to use such a suicidal move."

"We'll be at the very center of the explosion." His words came off as a statement rather than a question or a protest. The only indication that Sasuke was asking about her intention at all was the way he connected his eyes with hers.

For a brief second, emerald met onyx. Like all the other times, it was wordless. As a man of few words, to Sakura, Sasuke's eyes conveyed more than what is spoken, and Sakura found a slight smile to her lips despite the situation they were in.

_It was never meant to be, wasn't it, Sasuke-kun?_

_I'll never be loved by you again. _

_I've never really loved another. _

_I know._

So they never really got together, but does it matter?

Then again, Sakura never envisioned sharing the same fate with Sasuke either.

"Sasuke-kun!" She made a seal with one of her hands, and held Sasuke's with the other.

"Ah!" He strengthened his grip on hers.

"Katsu!"

All the birds of the forest made way for the heavens.


End file.
